Asa Hutchinson: “It seems ironic to me when we had the education bill on the floor of the Senate for 8 days, the amendments offered by…”

“It seems ironic to me when we had the education bill on the floor of the Senate for 8 days, the amendments offered by the other side of the aisle were on health care and campaign finance reform. They had nothing to do with education. Now we have elimination of the estate tax bill on the floor of the Senate and they want to talk about education. The majority leader has done everything in his power to give an opportunity for legitimate education debate and to pass reauthorizing of ESEA. This is a diversion, and all the protests will not change that fact. The death tax has been repealed in 20 States since 1980. I say to Senator Kennedy, I believe the Senate ought to do what his home State of Massachusetts did; we ought to abolish it. We ought to eliminate it as Oregon, as Vermont, as Canada, as Israel, as Australia. We should abolish it--not tinker with it, not play with it, not raise the cap. We need to eliminate it. Senator Kennedy called it the millionaire tax loophole. That is why the Black Chamber of Commerce has endorsed this bill, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Indian Association, and the Pan American Chamber of Commerce have endorsed it. We need to abolish the death tax.”